Pa. needs comprehensive transportation plan

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

One of the governorís priorities should be supported by every resident of Pennsylvania. Gov. Corbett has proposed a comprehensive plan to generate new revenue for all modes of transportation, not just highways. I applaud his approach. Pennsylvaniaís highway, rail, and bicycling and walking networks all need investment in order to make the commonwealth competitive and livable.

Pennsylvania has the second largest senior population in the nation, after Florida (we are nearly 2 million seniors, and growing), and we have children that need to get safe exercise outdoors. Seniors and children and, indeed, all of us need to have our crumbling transport system rebuilt in a way that accommodates both automobiles and healthy exercise. Eleven percent of all transportation fatalities are pedestrians or cyclists, yet we dedicate only 1.5 percent of total funding to this issue. We need to do more and we need to do better.

Moreover, Pottstown specifically needs the economic benefit that completion of the Schuylkill River Trail will bring. Some of us even dare to hope for new passenger trains to King of Prussia and Philadelphia that will bring us the economic benefits seen from similar projects in Texas and California.

In this environment, investments in better transportation mean finding practical ways to improve local transportation for all of us, by automobile, by foot, by bicycle and by train. Convenience, safety and exercise must be wrapped together in evaluating our need for the governorís proposed legislation.

As a native of Pottstown, as a board member of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, as a frustrated daily commuter on Route 422 and as a former officer of several freight and passenger railroads, I have learned the importance of an integrated transportation policy and the benefits it could bring to our lives.

I urge the governor, the legislature, and PennDOT to develop and pass a comprehensive transportation bill that makes Pennsylvania better for us to walk, bike, commute and live.